


Six Primals (and a Source)

by Jedi_Jed



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Chapters can be read separately, Earth, Gen, Moon, Moon chapter written pre-TTM, Ocean, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sky - Freeform, Stars, The 7 Sources of Magic including, all ships are background - Freeform, and Dark magic, awesome draconic spells, magic/character study, spell-casting mages, sun - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:48:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24722569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jedi_Jed/pseuds/Jedi_Jed
Summary: In Xadia and the Pentarchy, there are 7 sources of magic; the six original sources, (Sun, Moon, Ocean, Earth, Sky, and Stars) and the corrupting path of Dark magic. Magic, regardless of the source or type, is the manipulation of energy through the user, directed and altered by spells. But what exactly is magic?Well, only a mage could answer that question.(a character/magic study around the six sources of magic and dark magic as well. First three chapters are canonical characters and then come the OC's)
Relationships: Amaya/Janai (The Dragon Prince), Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 9





	1. Moon

**Author's Note:**

> The Moon: Moon magic draws on the spirit and energy of the Moon, creating illusions, concealment spells, and connections with spirits. This source is at its strongest during a full moon, and its Arcanum is understanding the true nature of the relationship between appearances and reality. The Moon is cyclical in its strength, relating directly to lunar phases. Moon Primal creatures, like Moonshadow Elves, can be private and secretive, and are keenly aware of the power of appearances. The Moon is associated with illusion, manipulation, love, death, charm, reflection, privacy, appearances, duality, and secrets.  
> (credit to The Dragon Prince wiki)

Lujanne looked towards the fading light of the sun, feeling the cool breeze brush against her skin and ruffling her cloak slightly. She could smell the faint aroma of moon roses from the bushes next to the gazebo ruin she was standing on, the runes on the pillars telling a long-lost story of the nexus. The full moon was already rising behind her, the power it held filling the old mage with its spiritual and physical energy. But until the moon was high overhead and shining directly into the Caldera, she was content to watch the rays of the sun tinting the clouds a beautiful reddish pink. Even with her connection to the Moon Primal, she understood why the Sunfire elves called their burning ball in the sky beautiful. Sometimes she even thought about what it be like to be one of them and live in Lux Aurea.

The illusionist quickly dispelled the notion, _what might have been is not what is_ she told herself, reminding herself of what she was, the 5th guardian of the Moon Nexus since the Judgement of the Half-Moon, and one the only one to stay over 250 years in human territory. But after an impressive 286 years guarding it with her creative and quite hilarious illusions, (or she thought so anyway, the humans that strayed up here didn’t enjoy them as much) she was ready to return to elven society. Of course, the problem with going back was that she had no one left, no friends, no family, and definitely no husband.

Her ex-husbands did try to live with her at the Nexus, but they didn’t seem to enjoy the loneliness and the illusioned grubs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner like she did. All of them left for the Moonshadow Forests after a few years, and only Phoe-Phoe had stayed with her over the centuries, only leaving her side when she needed to reincarnate.

And speaking of the Moon Phoenix, the large bird was already on its way to pick the Moonshadow up, a blueish black spot against the darkening sky. Lujanne lightly smiled as she remembered finding Phoe-Phoe’s egg at the top of a Moonshine Tree in Del Bar when she was 20, all alone and surrounded by broken eggs. Dark magic poachers had found the nest and killed the parents, then took ten eggs and destroyed the rest. Somehow, Phoe-Phoe’s egg had an illusion over it, probably imparted by the parents before they died. Lujanne fondly remembered how she took care of the egg, keeping it warm and safe until it hatched, bringing Phoenix-Phoenix into the Moon mage’s life.

Phoe-Phoe’s shrieking disturbed her mistresses’ thoughts, the bird having already landed and was impatiently waiting for Lujanne to get on her so she could get closer to the lake. Moonlight was already hitting the water, a sliver of the moon’s perfect reflection only lighting up the western area of the caldera. Since the bird had lived at the Nexus for years, she was drawn to the lake as the nexus soaked in the moonbeams, and some of the smaller illusions protecting the mountain where already on the beach.

Lujanne’s eyes widened as she finally noticed the stars coming out, and the moon steadily rising into position above the nexus. She had been so lost in thought she hadn’t seen the sun disappear and the moon slowly take its place. _Not again!_ She thought, this had been the third time this year she lost track of time and almost missed the monthly illusion replenishment cycle.

Quickly mounting the Moon Phoenix, Lujanne took off, guiding Phoe-Phoe towards a small platform built on the lakeshore. Unlike the rest of the elven-made structures surrounding the Caldera, this position was built after the Judgement of the Half-Moon, crafted from a Moon Opal to build and rejuvenate illusions.

The flight to the shoreline was swift, and soon Phoe-Phoe had touched down on the white sand. Already most of the illusions were surrounding the water, and if Lujanne looked closely she could see the actual Moon Primal animals that each illusion was made out of, an example being a ghost-spider that that looked like a Giant version of itself.

“Thank you, my old friend.” Lujanne said, gently stroking the feathers on the phoenix’s face as the moon rose higher into the starry-black sky, two-thirds of the moonlight shining into the Caldera and creating distortions in the pool of water.

Phoe-Phoe squawked a reply and nuzzled the mage’s hand with her beak, her way of saying _you’re welcome._ Lujanne smiled before turning away from Phoe-Phoe and approaching the moon opal pedestal, accessing the well of magic in her arcanum to activate the platform. As expected, her connection to the moon triggered the opal, making a circle of engraved runes on the stone glow a blueish-white color.

Taking a deep breath, Lujanne stepped onto the pedestal, letting the full moon’s magic completely wash over her. The glowing runes immediately became brighter, and Lujanne quickly stepped into the circle of characters, her magic growing exponentially as the moon filled the nexus with light, almost recreating the portal that once was the caldera.

But Lujanne was not focusing on the past, she had a job to do, and the magic was almost ready with only seconds to go before the moon was at it’s peak. The Moonshadow mage closed her eyes and started to write a rune, focusing on the arcanum and the moon, reciting the order that the ancient elves gave her people before the destruction of the Moon Nexus:

_Life and death are an illusion, and to see one’s true appearance, you must be like the moon. The moon is always there, and even when it conceals itself in its black cloak, it is still watching over you._

Lujanne opened her eyes and to reveal that her pupils had turned white, the spell complete as the moon shone directly down on its nexus, the white sand lining the shore shining an intense silver.

With a mighty yell, Lujanne uttered the incantation, “ _Restituo Illusio!”_

The pedestal’s runes immediately released their power and deceiving properties in a shockwave of light, smashing into the illusions and recharging them for another month.

The moon shone down on the Nexus for six extra seconds, allowing Lujanne to see two things that only the moons discerning power could ascertain. The first was normal, a quick glimpse into the moon portal that once stood in the Nexus, the spirits of the dead and living residing in a field of beauty. The second was different though, as she could see five Moonshadow elves in a forest, moving quickly and quietly like her people did, but the strange thing was that from what she could see from the surroundings, that it was Katolis.

As quickly as the vision began though it ended, and the old mage stumbled before righting herself. It wasn’t possible what she saw in the vision that the moon gave her, but try as she might, she knew what she had witnessed; Assassins.


	2. Sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sky magic draws on the vast sky, the energy and movement of the winds, and the power of thunderstorms. It is sometimes called "Weather Magic," though it is more than this, as it includes magic that helps one breathe in high altitudes as well as flight. This source is at its strongest during a storm, and its Arcanum is understanding that the sky is everywhere and that you are within it and part of it, taking it into you with your breathing. Creatures connected to the Sky Primal, like Skywing Elves, are typically quick and clever and prize the freedom to make their own choices in life. The Sky is associated with lightness, quickness, agility, cleverness, vision, potential, freedom, and perspective.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So when I was writing this fic I had a very basic plot for the first three chapters, and all of them were supposed to be before the show. Moon was of course the Moon nexus and Lujanne, and this was supposed to be an Ibis backstory but instead I decided to do an Ibis teaches Callum scene for this chapter. I guess it’s because it applies to how Sky works, even though we got a pretty good idea on how this particular arcanum functions from Callum in season 2. Also, we don’t really know much about Ibis because he’s only in the last three episodes of season 3. In any case, I hope you guys enjoy the next installment of this series and I’m also looking for someone to become an editor for my fics, so if you are interested please tell me in the comments or use the email in the end notes! (And the almost no dialogue rule is out the fucking window for this chapter.)

Callum readied himself for the imminent attack that was coming, his eyes searching the top of the Storm Spire for his girlfriend. A quick flash of pale skin and silver hair on his right caught his eye, causing him to whirl around only to see nothing but air.

“Focus Callum,” Came Ibis’s voice from behind him, “if you wish to catch a Moonshadow elf, you must think like a Moonshadow elf.”

Callum nodded his appreciation, keeping his eyes trained on where he last saw Rayla. It was the middle of the day and Ibis had decided that if Callum had to fight off assassins he would be dead before he was able to comprehend what happened. Since the only person that could qualify as an assassin was Rayla, she had happily volunteered her services if it meant scaring the bull-droppings out of her boyfriend, even if it was the middle of the day and there was a crescent moon last night. _Focus Callum!_ The mage-in-training scolded himself, _don’t focus on how you got in this situation but the situation itself!_

Getting his head back in the game Callum remembered Rayla’s advice when they tried to sneak past Sol Regem, he had to listen to **all** his senses. Focusing on the sky, Callum quickly drew an aspiro-like rune in front of his face, a longer tail, a curved crown, and drawing it backwards the only notable difference.

“Spirantis Odorem.” he whispered, taking a deep breath through his nostrils as he cast the spell.

His sense of smell was instantly increased as the spell took its hold and provided him with a way to locate the elf. He inhaled deeply and immediately the aroma of crushed moonberries came from behind him. Callum quickly leapt forward to escape Rayla’s grasp, turning around midair to quickly draw one of his favorite spells.

“Aspiro Frigis!” he yelled, the icy blast freezing Rayla’s feet to the ground.

Rayla’s surprised look at being outsmarted quickly turned to one of annoyance when she spotted the smug grin plastered on Callum’s face.

“Rematch.” she growled, still wanting to salvage some of her honour.

Ibis quickly stepped in before Callum could except her challenge, his hand already finished creating the spell to melt the ice surrounding the Dragonguard’s feet. “I’m afraid there can’t be a rematch,” he said, casting the spell with a few muttered words “I need to talk with Callum about his spellcasting, it was more than a bit sloppy.” Ibis said, directing the last part toward his pupil with a glare.

“Fine, but I’ll meet ya in the trainin’ hall afterwards.” Rayla grumbled, stomping off to most likely murder a dummy.

Callum quickly turned to his mentor to defend himself, he knew that the spell wasn’t written poorly. _Maybe_ a bit rushed, but not sloppy. But instead of a reprimand as he expected from the mage, he was met with Ibis’s kind smile.

“Do not be alarmed Callum, your rune writing was excellent, I simply needed a reason to get the Dragonguard captain away so I could talk to you in private about the Nexus.” The Sky mage said before briskly walking towards the edge of the spire, leaving Callum to guess whether to follow him or not.

“Um, okay?” Callum said, cautiously following Ibis towards the ledge until he was looking out at the plains surrounding the mountain citadel.

“Why do you think the ancient Skywing elves chose this place as the Sky Nexus Callum?” Ibis asked his student, not turning from the view.

“Because it’s closer to the sky?” Callum guessed, the reason seemed logical in his mind.

Ibis chuckled softly before turning to Callum, his warm smile still in place. “Yes, that is one of the reasons, but it is not the main one.” He waited a few seconds to see if Callum was realizing what he was getting at and failing that he continued, “The Arch-dragons of the Sky chose this place because in their time there was a never-ending storm swirling around this mountain, one so powerful that even the strongest dragons had trouble flying to the top.”

“Wait-a-minute,” Callum said holding up his hands “if it was never-ending, where is it now? I mean, there hasn’t been a single raincloud since I got here, and I’ve been here for 3 months.”

“You’re right Callum, the storm that used to circle this mountain was used to carve the interior rooms, and this mountain’s namesake died from the energy loss.” Ibis smiled sadly, as if he remembered the event.

He then perked up and said, “But luckily for the spire, King Avizandum was able to move a special stone here before his death so that a storm can be conjured with a spell.”

Callum looked shell-shocked with the information, blinking twice as he processed it. In fact, his facial expression closely resembled the first time Rayla kissed him. Slowly and surely though, Callum’s expression morphed from shock to joy, the idea of a powerful storm like the one he released at the Moon Nexus astonished him.

“That’s amazing!” he yelled, his hands clutching his head in amazement “I mean I can sense the enhanced static energy in the air, but I thought that was a perk from being up so high, or the nexus, or maybe a mix of the two.”

“Very true young mage, but there are certain limitations that this storm is bound by.” Callum’s face fell at revelation, and Ibis felt a twinge of guilt for telling him. “First, only certain times of the year can a storm be summoned, spring and fall is the best time to try, while winter and summer conditions aren’t good enough. Second, if the jet streams above the Spire are not in alignment the storm will be blown away, either north to the ocean or southeast to the Igneous mountain range.” Ibis paused to catch his breath before continuing, noting with some amusement that Callum was taking notes of what he was saying. “And finally, the storm will die out after 4 hours then have a recharge time of 3 days before it can be cast again. Any questions?”

“Yeah um, Ibis? Why are the storms seasonal?” Callum asked, looking down at his notes and then back up to the elf in thought.

Ibis sighed in obvious displeasure, pinching his nose as if the very thought caused him pain. “It is very hard to explain Callum, but to put it simply the stone here reacts to an invisible field surrounding the planet and the constant movement of the polar axis causes the stone to simply turn off in certain times of the year, depleting the energy reserves it already had.” Ibis looked up at Callum with hope in his eyes, praying to the Primals that he would understand the science behind the spell.

Callum tapped his bottom lip in thought before shaking his head in confusion, obviously not understanding what the mage was telling him. Ibis sighed in defeat; guess he’d chalk up another fail in trying to get people to understand science.

He shook off his discouragement for now, Callum needed to know how this spell worked in case anything happened to him, science be damned! “Callum, I am going to activate the storm now using a rune circle so stand back a bit, the wind is about to pick up.” Callum quickly ran to the far side of the pinnacle, bracing himself for the surge in his arcanum that was bound to come.

Ibis watched as he left before writing the Aspiro rune at his feet, the word leaving his mouth as soon as he finished the tail end. Hard air blew out of his mouth onto the floor of the Spire’s edge, cleaning away the dust and grime that had collected there for years. When the dust had settled a circle within a circle had appeared where the two of them were standing, ancient runes engraved between the discs.

Ibis took a deep breath, letting the crisp mountain air fill his lungs with oxygen and arcanum with energy. The runes immediately reacted to the energy, glowing a light blue color as Ibis stood in the middle of the circles. Using both hands, Ibis drew a large rune, his hands leaving trails of light as he worked, his eyes concentrated on making sure each line was clean and without fault. Callum watched on with rapt attention, his eyes following the mage’s hand stroke for stroke before getting confused. What was he doing? The rune was one he never seen before, not that he expected to have seen it before, but the writing looked jumbled and messy, more of a mass of lines and squiggles then a sign of powerful magic.

Before long the rune was done, or at least Callum thought so; it still looked like mess, but he could see some sense to it; it was still asymmetrical and chaotic, but his artistic side could read between the lines. Ibis then surprised Callum, he grabbed the flat sides of the rune and pulled, the sides expanding out and the rune doubling in size. The rune was now 3-dimensional and made much more sense, the chaos that it once was now more complete and the lines that made no sense falling into place. Now that Callum looked at the completed project, there was only one word to describe it, _Beautiful._ In fact, Callum stared at the rune for so long he began to recognize what it looked like, a storm.

Before Callum could reflect on this development Ibis began to talk “As the air swirls and moves around us, focus on your arcanum Callum. As I cast this spell let your arcanum soar through the Sky, breathe as if your last breath is to be taken, and let the air and power of the Sky nurture you as your arcanum is let go, like a bird freed from its cage.” Callum closed his eyes did as he was told, opening his arcanum to the unending power of the sky, letting the feeling of freeness engulf him.

As Callum opened himself to his source, Ibis continued with the spell, taking a few deep breaths before saying the trigger words in Ancient Draconic. “Summone Omnis Moriar” the rune flared slightly before crashing downwards, right down on the rune circle.

For a moment nothing happened, but then a line of blue light shot out from the circle, following a crack in the ground until it reached the pedestal that Callum was hiding behind. The prince yelped and fell backwards, tripping on a conveniently placed rock and falling on his backside. He almost closed his connection to the Sky from surprise, but a surge in power from the Source made him gasp in shock, leaving his arcanum wide open like a floodgate.

The line in the ground continued to travel up the stand, and upon reaching the top a bright light shone out and the pedestal opened up, and a bluish gray stone rose out. Little sparks of lightning flashed off the stone, creating a small lightshow as it rose into the air. Once it was about five meters off the ground it began to spin, the sparks spinning off in a dazzling display. Even though the stone rotated slowly, it had already begun to pick up speed, spinning faster and faster until colors that Callum didn’t even know existed were shooting off into the sky. As the stone spun dark clouds rolled in, covering the Spire and the surrounding area until darkness covered the area, and not even the sun was able to pierce the black clouds.

Callum yelled when one of the clouds suddenly shot lightning at the stone, the intensity of the electricity warming his face. As soon as the first strike was finished a second came in from the other side, a loud BOOM of thunder following as the lightning made contact. Before long electricity was constantly feeding the stone, and the sound was deafening from the constant thunder. The stone continued to spin, now white power from constant energy.

And then it all stopped, the spinning stone, the lightning, all that remained were the dark angry clouds and the bright white stone lighting up the top of the Storm Spire. For five minutes the clouds just sat there, the occasional flash of light and crack of thunder making the mage jump. Callum suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, and he looked behind him to see Ibis had joined him, looking up at the stone in interest and awestruck wonder.

Finally, the rain fell, and it fell HARD. Callum felt it beating against his skin, and it felt _wondrous_. He looked over to Ibis to see his eyes closed, his head and hands raised to the heavens and a small smile on his face. Callum felt his arcanum soar, and he finally understood Ibis’s mentality to the Sky. With his head raised, Callum looked at the Sky and with a small smile, he closed his eyes.

_Meanwhile. . ._

On the edge of the burning sands of the Midnight desert three figures stood, two humans, a young woman with white hair and the Sunfire staff, and an elderly man with grey piercing eyes clutching a silver staff. The last of their party was a Startouch elf, his yellow eyes and starry skin unnerving the creatures near him, including the two dark mages.

“What now Aaravos?” the man said, his eyes trained on a growing group of clouds above a distant mountain.

“Now,” the elf said, his yellow eyes flashing dangerously and his mouth curving upwards in a small smirk “we ride for the Spire.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had quite a bit of fun messing with creative licenses in this chapter, so don’t get mad if this chapter and the ones to come challenge season 4 whenever it comes out. Anyway, I always wondered why the hell the Storm Spire was called the storm spire if no storms were circling around it, and even though it was officially carved out by Sky dragons I think all that power came from somewhere else. The only tricky part of adding a storm was when it could be called upon and making sure it didn’t clash with season three. I’m pretty sure most of the season is in the summer so I used the north and south poles changing positions as an excuse for this one, and just to be safe I added jet stream movements as another reason in case I missed something important. I do realize that I’m probably pushing the technological advancements in this era, (middle ages) but magnets (that’s what the magical stone is) are amazing and have been used throughout history, not to mention some of the first man-made electrical appliances would not be possible without a magnet to direct the electricity. On the Latin translation side of things, Spirantis Odorem means Breathing scent, and Summone Omnis Moriar means Summon The Storm in Draconic. Finally, if you are interested in editing for me, please email me at jedinhiam@gmail.com.   
> Next up: we attend the high Sun Priest coronation at Lux Aurea.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, this is simply me doing a loosely connected eight-part one-shot collection about how TDP magic works and how mages in the series use and explain it, both for domestic and combat situations (not to mention creating awesome spells for the different Primals in Latin). There probably won’t be too much dialogue from the different mages, if any, and will most likely be their thoughts and feelings. I do realize the potential problem with Earth and Ocean, (not to mention the Stars) but I will create OC mages for both of the categories, maybe Stars if I don’t use Aaravos, still mulling over that one. But for now, we start with Lujanne at the Moon Nexus. Also, Restituo illusio means restore the illusions in Latin. I hope you guys enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Stay safe!


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